Ep. 541 Doubling Down on Safety in California’s Janitorial Industry

Rancho Mesa’s Marketing & Media Communications Specialist Megan Lockhart sits down with Jeremy Hoolihan, Partner and Account Executive of the Janitorial Group, and talk about how California’s janitorial industry will be affected by recent pure premium increases.

Show Notes: ⁠⁠Subscribe to Rancho Mesa's Newsletter⁠⁠.

Director/Producer: ⁠⁠Alyssa Burley⁠⁠

Host: ⁠⁠Megan Lockhart

Guest: ⁠⁠Jeremy Hoolihan⁠⁠

Editor: Jadyn Brandt

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production

© Copyright 2025. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Megan Lockhart: You’re listening to Rancho Mesa’s StudioOne™ podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.

I’m your host today, Megan Lockhart, and I’m joined by Jeremy Hoolihan, Partner with Rancho Mesa. So today, we’re going to talk about how California’s janitorial industry will be affected by recent pure premium increases. Jeremy, welcome to the show.

Jeremy Hoolihan: Hi, Megan. It's great to be here. Thank you.

ML: Glad to have you. Now, we've been hearing about California's workers' compensation pure premium increases for a few months. Will you explain how the increase will impact janitorial companies in the state?

JH: Absolutely. So, as many of our listeners have heard, the workers' comp marketplace in California is definitely hardening to the point where recently, an insurance commissioner, Laura, recommended an 8.7% increase on all base rates across the board. Now, diving in specifically to the janitorial industry, it's even affecting these types of businesses even more because the pure premium rate actually went up by 11%.

ML: Okay, so these rate increases will seem to hit the industry especially hard. And since the janitorial work is physically demanding and full of potential hazards, that hopefully we can help mitigate, what are the most common claims you're seeing affect workers' compensation?

JH: I'd say the top five frequent types of workers’ comp claims in the janitorial industry are one, your basic slip, trip and falls, and that can be equated to wet floors or cluttered hallways, tripping over vacuum cords, things of that nature.

Two would probably be lifting or overexertion. So oftentimes, janitors are put with the task of lifting heavy objects that can cause painful back, shoulder, or even knee injuries.

I'd say the third most common are repetitive motion type injuries. Those are things from, you know, basic tasks like mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing that can result in just repetitive strains or injuries over time. And these injuries can, you know, can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, or just chronic back pain.

I'd say the fourth most common are chemical exposures. So just regular use of cleaning agents like bleach, ammonia, and disinfectants can lead to rashes, you know, eye irritation, things of that nature.

I'd say the fifth most common type of injury are cuts and punctures, and that can be from sharp edges, broken glass, things of that nature.

ML: Okay, so we know the most common. What are the most severe claims?

JH: I'd say the most severe type claims, probably number one, is attributed to falls from heights. So in certain cases, janitors might be put with a task of using a ladder. So falling from a ladder, probably the most serious type that we see, that can lead to fractures, head trauma or even spinal damage.

Second most severe type of injury would be back injuries, herniated discs, spinal injuries, and those can sideline employees for months or even end their career.

The third most severe type of injury that we see are chemical exposures, accidents with strong cleaning agents that can cause permanent lung or even permanent eye damage.

ML: Okay, so what do you recommend janitorial business owners do to help mitigate these types of claims?

JH: Well I think first and foremost, it starts with a change in the mindset of safety in the workplace from being compliant to really thinking of safety as a financial strategy. You think about it, the safer you are, the less claims you're going to have, which results in lower premiums. But there are some really key risk mitigation strategies back to the most common types of injuries, the slip and falls. Simply placing what floor signs can immediately help reduce the slip and falls. The use of slip-resistant shoes can help prevent that as well.

Next, teaching smart lifting. Provide training on proper body mechanics and lifting methods. Use carts or dollies whenever possible instead of manual lifting. In situations where there's a heavy object to lift, consider using the buddy system so utilizing two people instead of one person trying to do that on their own.

Another strategy is to reduce repetitive strains. Rotating tasks to reduce strains in lieu of having somebody do the same task each and every day, make sure that they're rotating between their fellow employees, provide ergonomic tools like lighter weight mops, backpack vacuums, and things of that nature will definitely help reduce those types of injuries and protecting against chemicals. So train your employees on safe handling, storage, and mixing of cleaning agents.

Making PPE non-negotiable. So making sure that each and every employee is utilizing the PPE properly will certainly help.

And then finally, just being hyper aware of situations where sharp objects are around. So if a janitor is cleaning up broken glass, making sure that they have puncture resistant gloves and safe disposal containers, not only for glass but for needles and things of that nature. That will go a long way.

ML: Okay, well sounds like having a workplace safety program is going to be key to mitigating the worker's compensation increase. And I'll just add Rancho Mesa’s SafetyOne™ platform is designed to administer an effective workplace safety program to ensure employees are getting the proper safety training, identifying hazards before an incident occurs, and investigating incidents to ensure that they don't happen in the future. And clients can reach out to our client technology team to get started with SafetyOne™.

Jeremy, if listeners have questions about how their janitorial companies can best navigate the pure premium increase, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

JH: Yeah, you can reach me at 619-937-0174 or jhoolahan@ranchomesa.com.

ML: All right. Well, Jeremy, thanks for joining me in StudioOne™.

JH: It was great to be here, thanks Megan.

ML: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.